(ZENIT News / Paris, 13.06.2024).- In the elections of June 9, France not only experienced a change in the government majority, but also a notable turn to the Right in the vote of practicing Catholics, which the woke press calls “of the extreme Right.” So highlights the Catholic newspaper La Croix, based on the IFOP media company survey, which revealed that 32% of practicing Catholics voted for Jordan Bardella, leader of the Rassemblement National (RN). This figure rises to 37% if all Catholics are taken into account, including those that attend church less frequently.
This change marks a clear tendency to the Right in the Catholic vote, compared with the 14% support that Bardella obtained among practicing Catholics in the European elections of 2019. The evolution is reflected as well in the Reconquěte Party, led by Marion Maréchal, whose support increased from 5.5% in 2019 to 10% in the recent elections, centered as it is on the defense of the “Christian identity.”
In total, the bloc presented by the media as “of extreme Right” has gone from 18% to 42% in the Catholic vote over the last five years, a percentage similar to the support received by “extreme Right” candidates in the presidential elections of 2022.
According to Jérôme Forquet, IFOP’s Director, the evolution of the Catholic vote shows fragmentation and an increase in the support of the RN. He pointed out that only the nucleus of regular practicing Catholics, those that attend Mass weekly, resists the extreme Right, with 18% voting for Bardella.
In the presidential elections only seven years ago, François Fillon, an avowed Catholic and candidate of Les Republicains, obtained 46% of the practicing Catholic vote in the first round. This change reflects a rupture with the “Republican Pact,” attributed to a “dediabolization” and “respectabilization” of the extreme Right, which now attracts French Catholics despite the disconnection with the Episcopate’s guidelines.
A Pastoral Letter entitled “A New Breath for Europe,” published in April by eight dioceses of the Euregio region, urged Catholics to vote for pro-European candidates. However, the turn to the Right has taken place at the expense of right-wing Government, such as the Republicains.
Forquet concludes that, although attachment to the EU and Christian Democracy still exists among Catholics, this current is losing strength. At present, 28% of regular practicing Catholics vote for Parties of the Left. However, the new divisions focus on security, identity and the relationship with Islam.
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